Read
Watch
ListenNew Reports on Griffen Revealing Paranoia, Suicidal Thoughts, and Earlier Vikings Concern
Sep 9, 2018; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman Everson Griffen (97) in the first quarter against San Francisco 49ers at U.S. Bank Stadium. PHOTO:: Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
UPDATE: 12:06 PM TUESDAY
More reports on Everson Griffen are starting to break early this afternoon and they are revealing the fact that Griffen’s Breakdown last night at the Ivy Hotel (report from yesterday is below) was a culmination of odd and erratic behavior that the Vikings have been worried about for weeks now…
JUST IN: New report details Everson Griffen's "nervous breakdown". Report says he was kicked out of practice prior to Hotel Ivy incident and Vikings officials even called police to check on his wife and kids. Posting story now on https://t.co/1aEPFSuiK2.
— Ryan Raiche (@ryanraiche) September 25, 2018
Per Minnetrista Police, #Vikings player development director Les Pico told them Everson Griffen had not been himself for a few weeks and team sent Griffen and his agent a letter Thursday saying he wasn't allowed back until he had a mental health evaluation.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 25, 2018
According to a Minnetrista police report, Everson Griffen jumped out of the ambulance he was in headed to a hospital "because he was in fear that someone was going to shoot him." Police then escorted the ambulance and took him to the hospital where he remains.
— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) September 25, 2018
According to this report just released by KSTP, who have been on the front-end of this story since last night, Everson Griffen was kicked out of practice on Saturday before he went to the Ivy Hotel, where the events took place that made headlines (again, story from yesterday is below this update). Throughout all of this, the Vikings even reached out to Griffen’s wife to make sure she and the kids were doing ok, and to check on Everson’s status as well.
Again, according to the report from KSTP, Griffen’s wife said that Griffen hadn’t been sleeping and was even expressing suicidal thoughts… Chad Graff, from The Athletic, also reporting that Everson was having paranoid thoughts (above tweet) and even tried jumping out of the ambulance.
Here is the full report released today by KSTP. It is clear that Everson Griffen is not in a good state of mind. For now, let’s put football aside and think about the well-being of someone who has been a public figure in this community for a long time.
NEW: Everson Griffen was kicked out of practice to "get his head straight". Vikings officials said he wasn't allowed back until he had a mental health evaluation. The team asked police to go check on his wife and kids. Here's the latest:https://t.co/XSKSKs0TaM
— Ryan Raiche (@ryanraiche) September 25, 2018
Updated by Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan @RealMNSportsFan
ORIGINAL STORY BELOW THIS LINE
Lost in the shuffle of the Vikings embarrassing 27-6 loss Sunday to the Buffalo Bills was a curious no-show, both on the field or even on the sideline:
#Vikings rookie RB Mike Boone, who was questionable with a groin injury, is active for first time. Also active for first time is rookie RB Roc Thomas. Inactive are Dalvin Cook, Everson Griffen, Marcus Sherels, David Morgan, Kyle Sloter, Jayln Holmes, Bryan Witzmann.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) September 23, 2018
Look at the injury report from last week. Everson Griffen is listed but it’s a PHYSICAL ailment:
Today's #Vikings injury report pic.twitter.com/Sj4pISKaat
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 20, 2018
ENTER CODE “MSF” AT CHECKOUT FOR 10% OFF!
Fast forward to this week. Same name but now something new was on Griffen’s injury report:
Today’s #Vikings injury report pic.twitter.com/cplWoqYyjs
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) September 24, 2018
“Knee/Not Injury Related” seems odd but the team was keeping very tight-lipped on the situation today, as the rumors swirled around Twitter.
#Vikings coach Mike Zimmer said after Sunday's game that Everson Griffen, who was ruled out Friday with a knee injury, wasn't at the game because of a personal reason. His status is obviously in question for Thursday's game at the Los Angeles Rams.
— Chris Tomasson (@christomasson) September 24, 2018
We now know why Griffen missed the game:
#Vikings DE Everson Griffen was involved in an incident Saturday afternoon at a downtown Minneapolis hotel. @KSTP has learned details of the incident…https://t.co/3dZr4r3Q1L
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) September 25, 2018
So, according to this story by KSTP, Griffen was reportedly threatening to shoot people and staff of this hotel if they didn’t have his room ready… although no gun was found.
He was doing weird things like pacing around the lobby and laying on the floor. VERY odd behavior. And, according to this report he was never arrested, and actually walked out on his own.
Again, this story may be even weirder than some of the rumors on Twitter throughout the day. None of it really makes a lot of sense right now. Major outlets weren’t even reporting on it up until tonight.
Here are some of the fairly shocking details. The whole story is linked in the tweet above.
Well this isn’t good… pic.twitter.com/w6ZOIqiH0M
— Adam Patrick (@adampatrickNFL) September 25, 2018
It also sounds like this is something Griffen has been dealing with for a while, which is also news to most of us. Everyone is one of the guys the Vikings are putting out at events and in front of the microphone/camera on a regular basis…
#Vikings DE Everson Griffen has been dealing for weeks with a serious, personal health-related issue, per sources. The team and his agents are helping him. A statement from GM Rick Spielman: pic.twitter.com/vfd3Vn8Yok
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) September 25, 2018
This kind of situation obviously goes well beyond the game of football, so timetables for return are meaningless. Looking at how his production will be filled is also meaningless at this point. This is about a person’s well-being. Griffen is clearly not in a right state of mind at the moment and needs to take as much time as he needs to get help. Here’s hoping he gets the help he needs.
UPDATE: Fox 9 is now reporting that Everson did get arrested on Saturday night but it was for trying to break into a teammate’s house after the incident that took place at the hotel. However, team sources are telling other outlets that isn’t true…
https://twitter.com/seth_kaplan/status/1044408848428273664?s=21
Pump the brakes on this one. Everson Griffen did not try to break in to a teammate's house and was not arrested, according to a team source. https://t.co/KOeOzkPoed
— Ben Goessling (@BenGoessling) September 25, 2018
UPDATE: As of about 10:25 PM Fox 9 has officially corrected their report from earlier:
Correction: Everson Griffin was never arrested. MPD called to hotel. Hotel personnel say Griffin was making vague threats about “shooting up the place”. He was later *detained* by police in western Hennepin County, taken into protective hold and taken to a hospital for evaluation
— Seth Kaplan 📺 (@Seth_Kaplan) September 25, 2018
More to come as more information is made available.
Seth Toupal @SethToups
MinnesotaSportsFan.com
KEEP SCROLLING DOWN AND SUBSCRIBE FOR AN EMAIL WHEN MINNESOTA SPORTS FAN POSTS NEW CONTENT ON MINNESOTASPORTSFAN.COM
More About:Minnesota Vikings